Independent 11,843 by Dill

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I don’t think we’ve seen a Dill puzzle around here for a while, so welcome back.

Mostly straightforward and clear enough, though the ambiguous spelling at 12a was a shame, and 17a seemed pretty obscure (unless I’ve missed something). I liked the surfaces of 27a (we might wish . . .) and 31a (logical enough); and I’ve seen “wicked” used as in 1d before but it took me far too long to remember it.

It’s Tuesday so there’s probably a theme somewhere in all this. Early thoughts included CONSERVATIVE politicians (Rudd, Archer . . .), or perhaps traditional occupation-based surnames (Archer, Cooper, Chandler, Butler . . .) but there don’t seem to be quite enough of either to constitute a theme.

We also have a number of poets: Robert BROWNING and Elizabeth Barrett BROWNING, Ezra POUND, Stephen SPENDER, Gertrude STEIN. And a number of novelists: Jeffrey ARCHER, Raymond CHANDLER, Roald DAHL, Umberto ECO, C S FORESTER, C P SNOW. (One or two of these could be in both lists.) But “poets and novelists” seems a rather wide category, and indeed some of the other entries may well match writers that I haven’t thought of; I’m not sure whether there’s some more specific link between them. Or maybe I’m going in completely the wrong direction. Anyone got any better ideas? Thanks Dill for the fun.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 CHARGE
Daily, for example, reversal of cost (6)
CHAR (short for charwoman = daily = a domestic cleaner), then EG (for example) reversed.
4 SCIROCCO
Hot air from gentleman accepting compliance with companies going back and forth (8)
SIR (title for a gentleman) containing C (abbreviation for compliance, in physics), then CO (abbreviation for company) reversed and another CO forwards (companies going back and forth).

A hot wind, typically one coming from North Africa into Europe.
9 ARCHER
Tell, say, when demonstrator loses his head (6)
[m]ARCHER (one who goes on a protest march = demonstrator) without the first letter (head).

For example William Tell, Swiss folk hero, pretty handy with a bow and arrows.
10 RIGATONI
Baltic city into cooking pasta (8)
RIGA (capital city of Latvia on the Baltic Sea coast) + anagram (cooking) of INTO.

Tube-shaped pasta with ridges along the length.
12 DAHL
Boy reflected about hot Indian food (4)
LAD (boy) reversed (reflected), around H (abreviation for hot).

Indian word for lentils or a dish made from them. The spelling “dhal” is perhaps more common and works just as well with the wordplay, so we need a crossing letter to sort it out.
13 LOOS
Gents maybe endlessly promiscuous (4)
LOOS[e] (promiscuous, as in “a loose woman” – though that’s rather unfair because nobody ever talks about “a loose man”) without the end letter.

Slang for toilets.
14 STEIN
Prominent scientist, not a German mug (5)
[ein]STEIN (scientist Albert Einstein) without EIN (a form of the indefinite article “a” in German).

An earthenware beer mug.
16 ECLAIRS
Sweet treats served by London hide-outs (7)
EC (postcode of East Central London, including the area traditionally called the “City of London”) + LAIRS (hide-outs).

Cream-filled choux pastries with chocolate topping.
17 RUDD
Actor Paul, who played a little role, getting the red-eye (4)
This looks like a double definition, though there may be more to it. There’s a US actor called Paul Rudd, who has appeared in a lot of films and TV shows, but I don’t think I’d recognise him from anything I’ve seen; and there’s a fish (genus Scardinius) that can be called a rudd or red-eye. I don’t know what the words in the middle are intended to add, unless they’re pointing to a particular role that Rudd played?

UPDATE: Matthew Newell (comment 3) points out that Paul Rudd played the “little” title character in the film Ant-Man. I thought it might be something like that.
18 ECO
Grocers intrinsically backing sustainability label (3)
Inner letters (intrinsically) from [gr]OCE[rs], reversed (backing).

Eco = term used to identify a product as sustainable or environment-friendly.
21 TSAR
Emperor overwhelmed by part of Soviets’ army (4)
Hidden answer (overwhelmed by, or part of, but I don’t see why we need both) in [sovie]TS AR[my].

Title used in Russian and other Slavic languages, related to the Latin title Caesar.
22 SPENDER
Prodigal son to hang former head of state (7)
S (abbreviation for son) + PEND (to hang, more often in the form “pending” = hanging) + ER (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina, former UK head of state).

Spender = prodigal = one who spends money lavishly.
25 POUND
Small lake surrounds university enclosure (5)
POND (a small lake) around U (abbreviation for university).

An enclosure for animals, especially for holding strays until their owners come to claim them.
26 APEX
Summit of Twitter these days following Apple regularly (4)
X (the social media platform that hasn’t quite shaken off its former name Twitter, so “Twitter these days”), following alternate letters (regularly) from A[p]P[l]E.
27 SNOW
Downfall of some nepotistic old world leaders (4)
Leading letters from S[ome] N[epotistic] O[ld] W[orld].
29 ILLINOIS
Unwell in old island state (8)
ILL (unwell) + IN + O (abbreviation for old) + IS (Is. = abbreviation for island).

US state.
30 SAFARI
Expedition from South Africa to remote India (6)
SA (abbreviation for South Africa) + FAR (remote) + I (India in the radio alphabet).
31 FORESTER
Woodman in favour of new trees (8)
FOR (in favour of) + anagram (new) of TREES.
32 BAD EGG
Scoundrel ordered gallon after gallon (3,3)
BADE (past tense of bid = ordered = commanded) + G (abbreviation for gallon) + another G.

Slightly old-fashioned term for someone disapproved of: “I always knew he was a bad egg”.
DOWN
1 CHANDLER
Caught dealer, one who trades in wicked goods (8)
C (abbreviation for caught, in cricket scoring) + HANDLER (dealer = trader).

Someone who makes and/or sells candles = goods that have wicks.
2 ALCOHOLS
A school lecturer brewed strong drinks (8)
Anagram (brewed) of A + SCHOOL + L (abbreviation for lecturer).
3 GREY
Dull elegist by the sounds of it (4)
Homophone (by the sounds of it) of GRAY: Thomas Gray, who wrote Elegy in a Country Churchyard (otherwise known as “Gray’s Elegy”) and who always seems to be “elegist” in crosswords.
5 CRISSCROSSES
Small boy in audition goes over lines randomly (12)
Homophone (in audition) of CHRIS (short form of the man’s name Christopher = small boy?), then CROSSES (as a verb = goes over).

Lines drawn in random directions.
6 RHAPSODIES
Shops aired dismally romantic pieces of music (10)
Anagram (dismally) of SHOPS AIRED.
7 COOPER
Old boxer‘s manager gained zero (6)
COPER (one who copes or manages = manager) with an extra O (zero).

Henry Cooper, British professional boxer in the mid 20th century.
8 ONIONS
Should a vegetable grower know his well? (6)
Cryptic definition: “to know your onions” means to have a good understanding of what you’re doing.
11 CONSERVATIVE
Pro establishment bringing jam round at 4 (12)
CONSERVE (jam = fruit preserve), around AT + IV (4 in Roman numerals).

Conservative = inclined to keep things as they are = in favour of the establishment.
15 DISSIDENTS
Insisted Democrat worked on Southern rebels (10)
Anagram (worked) of INSISTED + D (abbreviation for Democrat), then S (abbreviation for Southern).
19 EDENTATE
Troubled attendee unable to take a bite (8)
Anagram (troubled) of ATTENDEE.

Edentate = toothless.
20 BROWNING
Tanning ex-PM in government (8)
BROWN (ex-PM: Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister 2007-2010) + IN + G (abbreviation for government).
23 SPLIFF
Dandy left inside joint (6)
SPIFF (dandy, as an adjective = smart or dressed-up), with L (abbreviation for left) inside it.

Joint = spliff = a cannabis cigarette.
24 BUTLER
Senior servant still essentially alert (6)
BUT (still = even so, as in “It’s not good – still, it could be worse”) + inner letters (essentially) of [a]LER[t].

Traditionally the male servant in charge of a house’s other staff.
28 GAGA
Lady singer out to lunch (4)
Double definition. The US singer Lady Gaga (otherwise known as Stefani Germanotta); or “out to lunch” = slang for insane.

20 comments on “Independent 11,843 by Dill”

  1. This wasn’t my cup of tea, though I don’t know why, really. Possibly the quibbles about the DAHL, RUDD and TSAR clues, and some of the surfaces. But there were certainly pieces which tickled me, CRISSCROSSES being my favourite for “lines randomly”.

    Thanks both

  2. RUDD
    Googled &found this:
    The Little Prince (a 2015 film): Paul RUDD acted in it (played a ‘little’ role?).
    TSAR
    The ‘part of’ looks redundant (agree with the blog)
    DAHL
    Seen this spelling in another puzzle recently.

    Thanks both

  3. Thanks Dill and Quirister

    Paul Rudd plays the eponymous minisuperhero in Antman. …A little role…

    I liked this crossword but there were quite a few old chestnuts

  4. COTD 17a Paul (Ant Man) RUDD. Had to check on oed.com that “red-eye” meant the fish (a1672–), long before all the other literal and figurative senses …

  7. [I see Matthew Newell@3 pipped me at the post by two minutes re Ant-Man (I forgot the hyphen). I shouldn’t spend so long linking and formatting.]
    Yesterday’s FT by Artexlen had the same wordplay for 26a APPLE+X: “Regularly picked Apple social media site as top (4)”. Great minds…

  11. This was light and good fun with a theme that even I could spot. I found 16 items. It’s a remarkable achievement to have been able to include so many.

    The actor with the little role in 17a seemed rather obscure (i.e.: I’ve never heard of him) but the definition and checkers led clearly to his name.

    I won’t mention two of my bugbears as these didn’t affect my enjoyment.

    Many thanks to Dill and to Quirister.

  13. Tsar Nicholas II and his family were literally overwhelmed by part of the Soviet Army, so no quibbles from me.
    Well done getting so many authors in.
    Paul Rudd is a prolific Hollywood actor, usually in slightly comic roles. Over 100 films in a 30- year career. He’s even in ‘Friends’; a ( comedy series, m’lud).
    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  14. How nice to see Dill again and with a most enjoyable Tuesday ‘themer’. I did hesitate over 17a but fortunately came across a pic of the unknown(to me) actor in his title role in Ant Man so that sealed the deal.

    Many thanks to Dill for the reminders of the various writers and to Quirister for the review.

  15. Thanks both. I hesitated over the spelling of GREY as both spellings can mean ‘dull’. Having decided that RUDD was an odd and obscure inclusion therefore linked to the theme, I decided on England cricketers and immediately found Jofra ARCHER and Graham ONIONS. I did consider authors but had the wrong spelling for DAHL for quite a while, and further determined that EM Forster wouldn’t have gained a letter to go working in the woods – perhaps I should read more.

  16. @TFO I had the same thought about cricketers, Stein is South African, Butler still plays for England and there used to be an English bowler John Snow (who played alongside C. Old) Thanks and welcome back Dill & Q for blogging

  19. […as does Dale Steyn. 🙂 ]
    Jenny ECLAIR[s] has written several books, too. I enjoyed the lunching lady and the manager. Thx S & B.

  20. Much to enjoy today. We weren’t sure which theme to choose as we missed spotting some of the authors.

    Thanks to Quirister and Dill.

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